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VentureStar
Simulated view of the VentureStar in low earth orbit
Fact sheet
Function	Manned Re-usable Spaceplane
Manufacturer	Lockheed Martin
Country of origin	USA
Size
Height	38.7 m[1] (127 ft)
Diameter	N/A
Mass	116573 kg[1] (257,000 lb)
Stages	1
Capacity
Payload to LEO	20412 kg[1] (45,000 lb)
Launch History
Status	Cancelled
Launch sites	Unknown
Total launches	0
First Stage - VentureStar
Engines	7 RS2200 Linear Aerospikes[1]
Thrust	3,010,000 lb[1]
Burn time
Fuel	LOX/LH2[1]

VentureStar was Lockheed Martin's proposed design for a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch system. The program's primary goal was to develop a reusable unmanned space plane for launching satellites into orbit at about 1/10 the cost of other systems that would completely replace the space shuttle. While the requirement was for an unmanned launcher, it was expected to optionally carry passengers as cargo. In addition to a modular system, The VentureStar would provide rapid turnaround between launches. It would have also used a new metallic thermal protection system that would be safer and cheaper to maintain than the ceramic one on the Space Shuttle. It was to be a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that would take off vertically and land like an airplane. The design specifications called for the use of linear aerospike engines, which maintain their efficiency thrust at all altitudes. VentureStar was to be a commercial endeavor and flights would have been leased to NASA as needed.

Failures in the VentureStar's technology demonstrator, the X-33, led to program cancellation on March 1, 2001.

• In John Varley's near-future science fiction novel, Red Thunder, the VentureStar is the main spacecraft in use by a United States of America, making daily flights into orbit from Cape Canaveral.

• In the opening credits of Star Trek Enterprise, the VentureStar is seen veering away from the International Space Station's docking port.

• In the movie Fortress II: Re-Entry starring Christopher Lambert, the VentureStar brings supplies to the orbiting prison station and is later hijacked by the prisoners to escape to earth.

• In Star Venture, the 45th novel of Gold Eagle's Stony Man adventure series, the VentureStar (with the name split in two) is hijacked by the Chinese and used to deploy nuclear missiles in space.

• In the animated mini-series Invasion America the protagonists hijacked a VentureStar style craft to fly to the Moon to reach the staging area of an alien invasion. This would be an impossible task for the real VentureStar, which would not have been capable of inter-planetary flight.

Lockheed Martin X-33

• NASA Spaceflight: X-33/Venturestar
• NASA Observatorium: Venture Star - Launch Vehicle for the 21st Century